Chancellor Sajid Javid has announced the recipients of over £600 million of investment to build up to 50,000 new homes in high demand areas in England.
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The delivery of up to 50,000 new homes in high demand areas has been assisted following more than £600 million of new investment for housing in England, the Chancellor has announced.
The funding will be made available through the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF), originally launched by Mr Javid when he was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Since it was launched, £1.3 billion has been allocated to deliver up to 76,500 homes.
The £600 million will help deliver five new projects in London, Central Bedfordshire and Essex.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP said: “I want to see more homes built in the places people want to live, so more people realise the dream of homeownership. But we need the roads, rail links, and schools to support the families living in those homes, which is why I set up a fund to put in place the infrastructure to unlock new homes in these areas.”
Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said: “To build more, we need to provide the infrastructure and public services to match. This package will support existing communities and ensure they receive the roads and schools to sustain the homes being built.”
The Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) is designed to support local authorities that want to step up their plans to increase the overall housing supply, make more land available for housing, and deliver new physical infrastructure that supports new and existing communities.
The projects announced by the Chancellor are:
- £218 million for the ‘Beaulieu Station and North-East bypass’ bid from Essex County Council to deliver a new train station and road improvements to unlock up to 14k homes.
- £156 million for the ‘Meridian Water’ bid from Enfield to deliver rail works, road infrastructure, land remediation, flood alleviation and utilities to unlock up to 10k homes
- £99.9 million for the ‘Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community’ bid from Essex County Council to deliver a new single carriageway link road and works to unlock up to 7.5k homes.
- £69.6 million for the ‘Transformational Growth in Biggleswade’ bid from Central Bedfordshire to deliver a new secondary school and transport infrastructure to unlock up to c.3k homes.
- £80.8 million for the ‘East London Line – Growth Capacity’ bid from the GLA to deliver transport upgrades to unlock up to 14k homes.
The Housing Infrastructure Fund is a government capital grant programme of up to £5.5 billion. Funding is awarded to local authorities on a highly competitive basis, providing grant funding for new infrastructure that will unlock new homes in the areas of greatest housing demand.
